


Assassination

by Legume_Shadow



Series: Whispers (Prequels to the Echoes Series) [14]
Category: Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Is It Really Major Character Death If It Really Happened in History?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 22:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3465029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legume_Shadow/pseuds/Legume_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The assassination of Serizawa Kamo, commander of the Roshigumi, and the subsequent fallout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assassination

**Author's Note:**

> First Publishing: AO3, March 2015. All copyrights apply to the appropriate parties and no profit is being made from this fanwork.

**Part 13: Assassination**

_October 1863_

 

No one wanted to be out and about in such miserable weather, and thus remained indoors, enjoying the food, alcohol, and women that had been offered in this party. It had been set up by Kondou to attempt to repair relations between Serizawa and his men, and them. The venue selected had been the same flower house where Kondou and the others who were in on the assassination plan knew that there was a suspected rebel-allied woman among the ladies. However, before the party had gotten started, Kondou had explicitly stated that there had not been enough funds to provide for some of the men to stay with the women of the flower house and that any who wanted to stay after festivities were over had to provide their own monies.

When everyone had had their fill, small groups of them slowly trudged back to the headquarters of the Roshigumi, though some hurried along, annoyed by the still-falling rain. Drunk and full of cheer, many of the men sang or chanted ribald songs in the streets, not paying attention to what was going on behind the scenes. Saitou was among a small group of those who had lingered behind at the flower house, seemingly determined the enjoy the last bit of sake before they would go home.

Kondou had been among the first group to leave, laughing like a cheerful drunk, while Yamanami had merely shook his head and indicated that he wanted to spend the night with a woman at another flower house, named Akesato. Serizawa, Hijikata, and Okita had been among those in the middle of the pack to leave, with Oume who had been the main guest of entertainment honor leaving with the brutish man. Hijikata had put on a very convincing exasperated expression as he supported a drunk-looking Okita back to headquarters. Saitou did not know if Okita had actually gotten drunk or not, for he had seen just how much sake the young man had consumed over the course of the night; it had been quite a lot.

That just left him, and as he took a puff of a lit western cigarette he had recently picked up from a merchant, with the small pack of it safely tucked away in his clothes, he smiled – tonight was the night where the wolves would break free from their captor.

Slowing his pace down as the last of the Roshigumi drunkenly stumbled past him and continued onwards towards their destination, he waited until they were far and away before turning down an alleyway. Rain pattered off of the umbrella he carried over his head, but as soon as he entered an empty-looking dwelling, he retracted the umbrella, just as he was met with a steel blade pointed straight at his neck. Narrowed dark eyes shone out from behind the black cloth that was wrapped around the tall man's face, but a moment later, the sword was retracted.

“Yamazaki has confirmed that Serizawa is in the rented villa tonight,” Hijikata gruffly said as Saitou placed the umbrella next to two others and stepped into the abandoned house.

Wordlessly, he was handed a small cloth package and unwrapped it. Placing his daisho pair on the ground, he dressed himself as quick as possible in the all-black cloth that would conceal everything except to leave the eyes uncovered. As soon as he was done, he picked up his daisho and placed them back on his _left_ side. He could draw as a normal swordsman draw, but to keep potential eyes from discovering who exactly the four of them were, he opted to conceal the one thing that would mark him different from other swordsmen.

With his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw Hijikata give a nod towards Yamanami, who had opened the door slightly and peeked out, looking whichever way before gesturing for them to proceed. As silently as possible, the four of them ran out into the muddy streets, with the rain still falling. Saitou was the last to leave and shut the door behind him.

Like a true pack of wolves, the four of them headed down the back alleys of Kyoto, hunting for their prey. They encountered no one, for their shinobi had ensured that the way to the villa was clear of any persons and when they finally arrived, it was Okita who immediately peeled off and quickly and quietly picked up a rather thick branch that had fallen off of a tree in the area, earlier in the week. The branch was shoved against the hinges of the front entrance gate, to prevent it from being opened from the inside.

When the young man rejoined them a moment later, the four continued on, using low hanging branches from a maple tree to asssit in getting up and over the walls of the villa. With the rain still masking their footsteps, each landed in the mud with a slight squelching noise, but did not hear anything out of the ordinary. Saitou was not the only one to notice that there was a dim lantern shining through the partition of a room in the middle of the villa – Serizawa was still potentially awake.

He saw Okita hold out a half-gloved hand, as if feeling the rain upon the palm of his hands before whispering, “Looks like the rain is stopping.”

Saitou glanced up into the inky dark sky, feeling the deluge slow. He had been so soaked with the rain that he had not felt the downpour even slow. They were all completely and thoroughly drenched, and he knew that it would slow them down, but with the four of them working together, Serizawa still did not stand a chance of surviving.

“Let us finish this before the moon comes out,” Okita stated, though Saitou was not sure if there had been a slight strain in the young man's tone or not. Of what he did hear, was a cold, definitive answer – they needed the cover of the rain to mask the assassination.

“Yes,” Hijikata quietly answered. "Souji and I will come in from the garden. You,” the tall man pointed to both Saitou and Yamanami, “will take this direction.”

Saitou gave a curt nod as he glanced over to see Yamanami with a hesitant look on his face. However, after a moment, the hesitation was erased as Yamanami gave Hijikata a resigned look before squaring his shoulders and headed towards the direction that the vice-commander had pointed to. Saitou followed and as silently as possible, drew out his katana.

Yamanami did the same and together, the two of them hopped up to the walking ledge of the villa, just as he saw the lantern light in the room get extinguished. Now was the time, and in the moments before sleep, a person was not as alert as they usually were. It was no doubt, doubly more so, since Serizawa was most likely exhausted from whatever physically intimate exertions he had performed upon the woman, Oume.

Hurrying to the other side of the partition door, as he sensed the presence of Hijikata and Okita ready on the other side of the room, he reached out with his right hand as his left drew back, ready to strike. Yanking the door open just as the other side was also opened, the four assassins roared and leapt in.

* * *

_At the same time..._

 

“How do you want me to _clean_ up this whore house?”

Yuna stopped her packing as she turned to face her sister, who was sitting quite still in seiza in the middle of her room. Tonight was the night of all nights, and she knew that they could no longer stay. Thanks to operatives who had still not been discovered by Shogunate or rebel factions in the city, she had found out from other operatives that certain persons within the Roshigumi suspected that another of Serizawa's supposed allies was working in this particular flower house. Her plan to reclaim and 'guide' the revolution had failed. She needed to find out who exactly had thwarted her plans and send peripheral agents to eliminate that person.

It was that and the fact that she had seen and participated in at least two reconciliation parties being arranged by the Roshigumi's commanders over the course of a month in this particular flower house. Of course, the matron had hemmed and hawed with the fact that Serizawa had shown his presence again at the house, but it was due to Kondou Isami's promise to keep Serizawa in control for the night that the matron had allowed the parties to be held. The third one had been tonight, and with the endless rain that had been falling for the better part of the day, she knew that the time had come. The Roshigumi were going to assassinate their commander.

The rain was to be their cover, and they were smart enough that she knew whoever was going to assassinate the Roshigumi would return here after the deed was done and hunt down Serizawa's ally. She and the others that were the most visible of their organization, needed to get out of the city. The revolution was already underway, and they would have to be satisfied enough to let it take its natural course.

“Let's pin it on the Ishinshishi. I feel like leaving some confusion in the wake of our organization's loss,” she said with a finality. “Once it is complete, warn Kitamura and the others to scatter before the wolves' hunt is done. We cannot hold Kyoto.”

“Pin it on Hitokiri Battousai then? He and I both use Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, so I will be able to mimic his style easily,” her sister stated.

“No, we cannot have that,” she said, stopping for a moment as she glared at her sister. “The organization made a deal with Hiko Seijuurou, and as tempting it is to put the massacre of this house on the Hitokiri Battousai, we cannot break it. No...let us pin it on the Tosa hitokiri, Okada Izou.” She knew that the young hitokiri had narrowly escaped capture several times and frankly, it was surprising that _none_ of the patrol groups in Kyoto had captured him yet. However, it also made him the perfect scapegoat for what was about to happen.

“It will be done.”

* * *

Four sword tips lanced into the bodies lying on the futon, cutting off the shrill scream of the woman before it could even rise in volume. Both Saitou and Okita's blades had not been plunged into the woman and instead, had found the body of Serizawa. A roar of anger, louder and much more fearsome than the four combined, answered their first strike.

Saitou found himself stumbling backwards as Serizawa whirled up from under covers, arms batting away the swords that had stabbed him. The scrape of Serizawa's blade being drawn was heard, but even for a man who had been wounded, he whirled around, not giving Saitou or any of the others a second chance to stab him. Saitou gritted his teeth as he ducked under the flashing blade, just as he saw Okita attempt to stab Serizawa.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Yamanami charge in, just as Serizawa clashed blades with Okita, driving the young man back with pure brute strength. Hijikata had danced around Okita and was aiming the at Serizawa from the left side of Okita. Saitou stopped himself as he crouched and readied himself to strike with Gatotsu. Just as he saw Okita's blade lance back into Serizawa, and the brute of a man respond to the attack by viciously kicking Okita in the chest, Hijikata and Yamanami bore down upon Serizawa, using variations of Tennen Rishim Ryu's _Hirasegan_ form.

That was his opportunity to charge in and with a roar escaping his lips, Saitou charged, putting as much power as he could into his left arm. In the split second before he completely closed the distance, Serizawa had managed to raise his sword and quickly block Yamanami's strike with a powerful downward strike before flipping his grip and thrusted the end of his hilt straight into Hijikata's blade. The force of the blows forced both men backwards.

However, it was too late as Saitou closed the gap and plowed his blade straight into the side of Serizawa, just as the man had turned to attempt to stab Okita in the stomach. Overzealous to attack after being kicked into the ground, Okita had briefly forgotten that they were fighting in close, cramped quarters and had gotten his blade stuck on a ceiling beam. Fortunately, Saitou's _Gatotsu_ stopped the man from bearing his blade down upon a comrade.

Serizawa coughed out blood but did not falter as a guttural, animalistic howl rose from the depths of the man's lungs, just as Hijikata and Yamanami sunk their own blades into the man's flesh, pinning his arms against his body. Saitou saw Okita finally free his blade from the ceiling beam and charge in with _Hirasegan_ , aimed higher than usual. Serizawa was finally silenced when Okita's blade was rammed through the man's neck.

Saitou heard the beast of a man gurgle and could feel the weight of the man slowly sink into the ground. That was their cue to pull all blades out, and as he and the others stepped back, Serizawa sank into the blood-soaked tatami mats, twitching ever so slightly as the last of his life bled out. He became aware that even in that brief fight, lasting no more than five minutes, he was breathing quite rapidly. It had taken a lot of strength just to put the man down, and finally, Serizawa was dead.

“We don't have much time,” Hijikata stated as Saitou saw him flick some of the blood off of his blade before sheathing it. “The rain will stop very soon.”

Saitou did the same with his own blade as the others followed suit. Looking outside, he could see that the rain had drastically tapered off to a drizzle. Without a word, he followed the others as they silently stepped out of the room and quickly left as silently as they had came.

Autumn night insects start to hum and chirp their songs as the drizzle continued to taper. However, as the four of them ran through muddy streets, Saitou glanced up every so often to see that the skies were still cloudy. Though the moon behind the clouds was attempting to shine through, it seemed that the storm had not yet abated. The sky lit up in a brief flash of white, illuminating the dark clouds, and a moment later, a deep rumbling was heard.

A gust of wind blew down the streets as the heart of the thunderstorm rolled in, bringing in yet another deluge of rain. Streams of rain pour down upon the four of them as they hurried to their second destination. Yes, the rain was their ally, masking the noise they made while running, along with any movements when they were sneaking, but in this sudden downpour, the muddy streets would turn into a muck that would slow them down.

However, as they approached the flower house, Saitou sensed something amiss; something was wrong and he could feel it coming from the house. While he had seen that there were a few patrons not of the Roshigumi staying at the flower house, all who were there had to be killed tonight. They could not let Serizawa's unknown ally at the flower house find out that Serizawa was dead. Others whom the shinobi, Yamazaki, had spoken of those months ago, would find out, but Hijikata had already told them that the shinobi was in the midst of identifying the others. None would leave the city alive.

“ _Fukuchou_ ,” Yamazaki's whisper was muffled as the shinobi suddenly landed on the ground in front of them, decked out from head-to-toe in all black. “They're already all dead.”

“What?!” Hijikata hissed as Saitou narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Yamanami had his eyes wide open while Okita had also narrowed his eyes, though not in suspicion, but in anger. Saitou had seen the young man tighten his grip on his katana ever so slightly at the news.

“After the four of you started to make your way to the villa, I doubled back to observe the comings and goings of those at the flower house. For the past few months there had always been a portly man who leaves the place near the hours of the Ox to return to his wife's bed. He is not under suspicion mainly due to the fact that he is merely a fish merchant who has lived in the city since he had been born. He came tonight as usual, and I expected him to leave tonight at the same time, but did not see him leave.”

“Saitou. Souji,” Hijikata ordered, unsheathing his sword, “take the back. We'll go through the front. Yamazaki, watch the streets.”

Saitou nodded and together, he and Okita sprinted to the back of the flower house. With swords drawn out, both of them ran and leapt over the wall that surrounded the flower house, landing in the back with barely a sound on the muddy ground. Picking himself up, Saitou took the lead while Okita followed closely behind and as he slid the partition door open, the stench of blood hit him full force.

As he and the young man stepped in, they did not need light to see the carnage that had been wrought. Bodies were lying everywhere, splayed out with multiple slashes that had rendered them quite dead. Some had died with expressions of surprise, while others of fear. Splatters of blood laced the walls, and even though the heavy smell of blood filled the air, Saitou could see that these people on the ground floor had died recently.

However, he could sense nothing except for the presence of the other three and heard Hijikata and Yamanami make their way around the dead from the front. Sheathing his sword, he heard Okita do the same and turned slightly to see the young man nudging a woman's body to the side with his foot. No one had been spared, but without light, none of them could clearly identify what group had attacked the flower house. There was a thought lingering in Saitou's mind as he and Okita rejoined the other two at the front of the flower house: why were the people at this flower house slaughtered? Had someone also known of Serizawa's allies?

* * *

_A few weeks later..._

 

“After him!” Hijikata ordered as the men he commanded in this small patrol group surged forward. While they were quite a ways outside of their jurisdictional area, it was because this man had been spotted in their area that they gave chase. The man they were chasing after had been identified by Yamazaki earlier in the day as one of the other three who had met with Serizawa that fateful day. It was not by sight, but by voice that the shinobi had recognized the man, and the fact that the man had given his pursuers one look and bolted clearly assured the man's guilt.

After word of Serizawa's assassination had spread, those who had supported the man had tried to rally against Kondou, but found themselves with not a lot of allies. One by one, they had been forced to commit seppuku, and in their last words, Kondou, Hijikata, and Yamanami had heard confirmation that indeed, Serizawa had been trying to bring the group under the control of a different force.

As for whoever had slaughtered those at the flower house; the culprit, just by how the wounds had been inflicted upon the women and their patrons at the house, pointed to notorious Tosa hitokiri, Okada Izou. With cooperation and help from the last of the Tosa guardsmen who had not yet left for their home, they had finally arrested the assassin only a few days ago. However, the fact that Okada, even though he had vehemently denied it, killed those at the flower house made Hijikata suspicious. It felt too convenient, but he did not have enough clout or evidence to present to those at the Aizu clan house to take a closer look. He had left the matter as is, even though it nagged him.

At the present though, he saw the man stumble on a rock, enabling the rest of the patrol group to catch up with him. As the man turned, and drew out his sword, in a last-ditched attempt to defend himself, the patrolmen surged ahead. Hijikata slowed his pace down as he too drew his sword as he watched the man valiantly try to fend off five people at once. However, the man's skills were no match to that of the patrolmen.

Hijikata stepped in, just as the man sank down to the ground, mortally wounded and bleeding quite extensively. The man's sword had already clattered to the cold ground, as he saw him gasping for breath. He raised his sword and stabbed the man through his chest before yanking his blade back out. Stepping back, he shook the tip of it, flinging blood off as he calmly watched the final breaths leave the man.

“When you see your masters in the afterlife,” he said as the man looked up at him with pleading eyes, wanting him to end it quickly, “tell them that the Wolves of Mibu can never be tamed by the likes of Mito or any of the rabble.”

The man whispered something, but it was so soft that Hijikata could not hear it. However, he did see the mouth move, and the only answer he received from the dying man was, “Suzu...”

A moment later, though, the man fell still, with the light fading from his eyes as he seemingly stared up at something beyond Hijikata. With a sigh, Hijikata quietly sheathed his sword and gestured for his men to clean up the area. This was a public road, and while he wanted to leave the body there, the days of Serizawa influencing their actions was over; it was time to start anew.

 

_Serizawa Kamo was killed on October 30, 1863._

 

_There were many prevailing theories as to why he was assassinated; but despite his abrasive personality and instigation of numerous incidents with civilians during his tenure as leader of the Roshigumi, it is generally agreed upon that without him, the group would have never formed._

 

_Shortly after the death of Serizawa, the group was brought into full sponsorship by the Aizu clan and renamed the Shinsengumi. Kondou Isami was named leader of the Shinsengumi, with Hijikata Toshizou and Yamanami Keisuke named as vice-commanders. Despite their small number, ten captains were also selected and expansion of their numbers began in earnest._

 

~*~*~*~


End file.
